I am starting uni in September and don't have a clue about which laptop I should buy. I will only be using the laptop for essays, watching films, and browsing the internet so doesn't need to be anything special. Any advice would be appreciated

I'd recommend something with an intel i3 processor (or an AMD A8), at least 4gb of RAM, and at least a 500GB hard drive...a laptop with these specs should be plenty for what you want to use it for
Edit: Be warned, windows 8 doesn't play DVD's unless you pay for a pretty pricey upgrade, but there is some freeware available to play them

(Original post by heythere247)
I'd recommend something with an intel i3 processor (or an AMD A8), at least 4gb of RAM, and at least a 500GB hard drive...a laptop with these specs should be plenty for what you want to use it for
Edit: Be warned, windows 8 doesn't play DVD's unless you pay for a pretty pricey upgrade, but there is some freeware available to play them

(Original post by Curtis_B)
I am starting uni in September and don't have a clue about which laptop I should buy. I will only be using the laptop for essays, watching films, and browsing the internet so doesn't need to be anything special. Any advice would be appreciated

I have £600 to get one but don't want to spend all of it on one just because I can if you know what I mean? I am thinking that I will probably be best of with a dell with the specifications you mentioned, thanks for the advice

(Original post by Curtis_B)
I'm not too keen on apple products myself and as I am only using it for essays, internet and watching films I don't really want to be spending £1000 just to do that

As you said there is no real reason to bother with a macbook (at all in my opinion) especially regarding your usage case.
The current consensus; i3 from intel or A8/A10 or even an A6 from AMD. The advantage of the AMD APU's are the entry level discrete GPU built on to the chip, but they suffer in CPU intensive tasks compared to an i3 though some APU's can beat the i3.
It really comes down to your budget/what you wish to spend

(Original post by Curtis_B)
I have £600 to get one but don't want to spend all of it on one just because I can if you know what I mean? I am thinking that I will probably be best of with a dell with the specifications you mentioned, thanks for the advice

I can send you a link to a laptop I got with those specs, you'll save a fair bit of that £600 for freshers week too! Although it does have USB 2.0 rather than 3.0 but it doesn't make much difference in my opinion for the things I use USB ports for

(Original post by Curtis_B)
I have £600 to get one but don't want to spend all of it on one just because I can if you know what I mean? I am thinking that I will probably be best of with a dell with the specifications you mentioned, thanks for the advice

You can get a very good laptop with the above specifications for around £400. For £600 you looking at a very good gaming/graphics laptop which will be unnecessary. Dell will be good, if you want a little style look at the HP Pavilion with touch.

(Original post by zaback21)
You can get a very good laptop with the above specifications for around £400. For £600 you looking at a very good gaming/graphics laptop which will be unnecessary. Dell will be good, if you want a little style look at the HP Pavilion with touch.

I have just looked at the HP Pavilion laptops and think I will go for one of them, thanks for your help. and I agree with your previous comment about buying the brand I think most of the people buying Mac Books do so so they can can say they own a Mac Book not because it's what they need or will use

I bought the Lenovo G570 just over a year ago, and it's so easy to navigate I'd definitely recommend it.
It's got practically all the specs mentioned above, and a webcam (useful for Skyping home if you're in halls etc.) They're around £400:

(Original post by Curtis_B)
I am starting uni in September and don't have a clue about which laptop I should buy. I will only be using the laptop for essays, watching films, and browsing the internet so doesn't need to be anything special. Any advice would be appreciated

All you will probably need is i3 processor, 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive.
If I was you I would keep to a budget of £350.